Revenge
by cleotheo
Summary: Ginny Weasley has been in love with Harry Potter for as long as she's known him. When she notices the boy she loves is spending all his time with Hermione Granger she decides to get revenge on Hermione for stealing her man. But is Ginny right or is there another reason why Harry and Hermione are sneaking around and spending so much time away from Gryffindor Tower?


**A/N - This story is set in sixth year. Lucius wasn't involved in the confrontation in the Ministry at the end of fifth year so isn't in Azkaban, therefore Draco isn't a Death Eater and he doesn't have the Dark Mark.**

* * *

Ginny Weasley flounced into the Gryffindor common room wearing a very short skirt and the tightest top she owned. Ginny stopped and scanned the crowded room, failing to find the messy black hair of the boy she was looking for.

Ever since she set eyes on Harry Potter, Ginny had been in love with him but so far her brother's best friend had yet to notice she was female, let alone an attractive one with feelings for him. When Ginny had spoken to Harry's other best friend, Hermione Granger, about her feelings for Harry the bushy haired brunette had advised the younger girl to have fun and live her life and one day Harry would notice her.

At the time Ginny had followed Hermione's advice, she stopped hanging around Harry like a lovesick puppy and started dating other boys instead. When that didn't seem to work and Harry was still oblivious to her feelings, Ginny had started to think about other ways of attracting the attention of the boy who lived. That was when Ginny realised that Harry was spending more and more time alone with Hermione.

Ginny figured the pair started spending more time together last year, when they were organising Dumbledore's Army. Ron's new relationship with Lavender Brown this year had also meant the pair were often alone without the other third of their trio.

When Ginny was still unable to see Harry or Hermione in the common room she stormed over to where her brother was sitting snogging the face off Lavender.

"Have you seen Harry or Hermione?" She asked, tapping Ron on the shoulder.

"No." Ron muttered, barely able to tear himself away from his clingy girlfriend.

Ginny huffed at her brother and left the common room, deciding to go looking for Harry and Hermione. As Ginny stormed through the castle looking for any sign of her brother's two best friends she thought about how unfair it was that Hermione had stolen the boy she wanted. Hermione was the only person that Ginny had told about her feelings for Harry and yet the witch still had the audacity to steal him from her.

Ginny was so caught up in her venomous thoughts about Hermione she failed to notice when she had entered the dungeons. Suddenly looking at where she was Ginny cursed quietly, the dungeons were very easy to get lost in and the only people who could easily navigate the dark and twisting tunnels were the Slytherins.

Trying to find her way out of the dungeons and back into the main school, Ginny suddenly heard noises coming from a nearby classroom. Sneaking closer to the classroom Ginny could tell it was the noises of a couple getting passionate. Ginny snuck a peek through the window in the door but it was too dark to make out the identity of the couple who were on one of the desks. Ginny turned to leave but a throaty moan from the room stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh god, Harry."

Ginny felt the tears start to leak from her eyes as she realised the couple in the empty classroom was Harry and Hermione. Ginny whirled round and started to run from the dungeons, tears streaming down her face. Ginny had left so fast that if she had stayed a few more minutes she would have heard Harry's cry of ecstasy and realised it wasn't Hermione he was with.

* * *

Sitting by the black lake wrapped in her boyfriend's arms, Hermione checked the time and groaned slightly. "We have to go." She said, turning to her companion.

"Already?" Her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, questioned.

Hermione nodded and the couple stood up and began to walk back towards the school. The unlikely pair had gotten together the previous year after Draco and Pansy had approached Hermione and Harry offering to help them hide the D.A's activity from Umbridge. Both Harry and Hermione had been sceptical but the two Slytherin's had convinced them that they didn't want to fight for Voldemort for something neither believed in.

It had only taken Harry a few weeks to work out the reason that Draco wanted nothing to do with the dark side was the crush he was harbouring on Hermione. It had taken Hermione longer to realise the blond had feelings for her but when she did, Hermione gave him a chance and the couple had been together ever since and were very much in love.

Entering the school, Draco and Hermione came across the sight of Harry and Pansy kissing up against the wall. While Draco and Hermione had gotten together the previous year, Harry and Pansy's relationship was just a recent development.

"Put her down, Potter." Draco drawled, rolling his eyes at the sight of his best friend being ravished by the boy he had once despised.

Harry and Pansy reluctantly parted while Draco and Hermione were saying goodnight to each other. Realising that if he didn't get Pansy back to the Slytherin dormitories quickly her and Harry would be all over each other again, Draco grabbed Pansy by the arm.

"Come on, Pans." He said. "It's time we all went to bed."

After one final goodbye the two couples parted ways, Draco and Pansy headed back to the dungeons while Harry and Hermione headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Heading back to their common room, Harry and Hermione chatted happily to each other about their Slytherin partners. As well as the two couples, Hermione had become firm friends with Pansy while Harry had become friends with Draco. Neither had told Ron of their romances or friendships with the two Slytherin's as they knew their hot-headed friend wouldn't approve.

During the summer both Draco and Pansy's family's had secretly joined the Order. While both Harry and Hermione knew of the two families change of allegiance most people didn't as both Pansy and Draco's fathers had agreed to pass information onto the Order.

When the two best friends entered the common room arm in arm neither noticed the small figure of Ginny curled up on a chair by the fire. Ginny watched as Harry and Hermione entered the room laughing together before they said goodnight and parted ways.

Sitting in front of the dying fire, Ginny contemplated if she could find a way to either steal Harry from Hermione or to split them up. At the very least she wanted to punish Hermione for stealing Harry from her. Vowing to do whatever it took to make Harry hers, Ginny headed for bed.

* * *

Arriving in the common room just behind Hermione the next morning provided Ginny with her first opportunity to mess with the brunette.

"Please, 'Mione." Ron was saying as Ginny entered the room. "At least check it's okay."

Ginny knew that Ron was worrying about a DADA essay that he had wrote hastily the previous night.

"Fine, but if you did your homework earlier you wouldn't panic on the day it was due in." Hermione replied, putting her bag down on a chair and looking through it. "Damn, I've forgotten my quill, I'll catch you guys up."

As Hermione raced back to her room, Harry and Ron headed off to breakfast with Ron still stressing over his essay for Professor Snape.

"You coming, Gin." Ron called as him and Harry reached the portrait hole.

"I'll wait for Hermione." Ginny replied, watching as her brother and Harry left the room.

Checking she was alone Ginny ran to Hermione's bag and found her essay for DADA. Taking the essay from Hermione's bag, Ginny put it in her own and waited for the older witch to return. While she still had no plan to break up Harry and Hermione, Ginny did plan an making the older witch's life as miserable as possible until she found a way to get her away from Harry.

"You didn't have to wait for me." Hermione said as she re-entered the room.

"It's okay, I don't mind." Ginny said as the pair of them headed for breakfast.

* * *

"It has to be here, somewhere." Hermione muttered, tipping the contents of her bag onto the table she was sharing with Harry.

"We don't have all day, Miss Granger." Professor Snape snapped, swooping down to in front of Hermione's desk. "Do you have your essay or not?"

"I did have it, I know I did." Hermione exclaimed. She was at a loss to explain the missing homework and was getting more upset by the minute.

"You have to the end of the day to hand it in." Professor Snape said, returning to the front of the class. "Otherwise you will have a week of detention."

Snape hated to be too hard on the Gryffindor girl as he had become quite fond of her since her and Draco had gotten together the previous year, but he had a reputation to uphold and he didn't want any gossip if he was seen to be lenient towards a Gryffindor.

Hermione spent the rest of the class in a panic over her missing homework and the second the bell rang she flew from the room, heading back to Gryffindor Tower to find the missing essay.

Hermione spent her entire lunchtime searching for her homework, she knew it had been in her bag when she packed this morning but couldn't work out where it had disappeared to. She even tried summoning her essay, but nothing was working. Hermione debated trying to re-write the work but knew that there was no way she could complete it in the spare time she had before Snape expected an essay.

* * *

Ginny had to work hard to hide the smug look on her face over dinner. Hermione's lost work and the week of detention she had received from Snape was the hot topic in The Great Hall.

After breakfast, Ginny had snuck off to the girls bathroom and destroyed Hermione's work in case the witch tried summoning it or casting some sort of detection spell on it.

As Ginny listened to Harry and Ron moaning how unfair Hermione's punishment was, she hoped that it meant that Harry would be alone more often this week so she could try and seduce him. Originally Ginny had stolen the homework to get Hermione into trouble as payback for stealing Harry but she had inadvertently stopped the couple spending time alone together, a result she was thrilled with. Until she could finally break the couple up, she would concentrate on keeping them separated as much as possible.

Once dinner was over, Hermione stood up and after saying goodbye to her friends she headed off to the dungeons to perform her detention with Snape. As soon as Hermione left the room, Ginny moved into the seat she had occupied, next to Harry, and began talking to Harry about the upcoming Quidditch match.

Ginny was thrilled that she had grabbed Harry's attention at the mere mention of the wizarding sport. Ginny knew that it was one advantage she had over Hermione, the brunette witch hated the sport and made no effort to hide the fact while Ginny was an avid supporter and player of the game. It was an advantage that Ginny planned to use to the best of her ability, she would show Harry that she was much more compatible for him than Hermione.

* * *

When Hermione left Snape's office after serving the first night of her detention she was pleased to find Draco waiting for her. At the sight of the blond boy leaning against the wall opposite Snape's office Hermione rushed over to him and embraced him, burying her head in his shoulder. Draco instinctively wrapped his arms around his upset girlfriend and manoeuvred them into a nearby classroom that was empty.

"Are you okay?" He asked, once they were alone where no-one would interrupt them.

"No. I don't understand it." Hermione sighed, lifting her head so she could see Draco. "That essay was in my bag this morning."

"So someone must have stolen it." Draco offered. Draco had spent the day trying to work out what had happened to Hermione's work, he knew she had finished the essay because they had worked on it together the weekend after it was first assigned.

"That's what I thought." Hermione admitted. She had been reluctant to tell anyone her theory in case they thought she was being paranoid. "But I tried to summon it and it didn't appear."

"Maybe it was destroyed by then." Draco said. "If I stole someone's work like that, I would destroy it as soon as possible if I didn't want it found."

Hermione looked at Draco, begrudgingly impressed with his typical Slytherin like thinking. "But who would steal my work and why?" She asked.

"I don't know." Draco shrugged. While the Slytherin's may make their mouths go about the Gryffindor's, and in particular the golden trio, Draco knew that none of them would dare to steal Hermione's work.

"I guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on my things from now on." Hermione sighed.

"I came here to cheer you up and so far I seem to be failing miserably." Draco said, seeing how upset Hermione still was.

"All we've done is talk about my missing homework, that's hardly like to cheer me up." Hermione pointed out.

"True." Draco nodded and pulled Hermione back into his arms. "Maybe this will help." He smiled before bringing his lips down on Hermione's.

Hermione forgot all about her homework and her weeks' worth of detentions as Draco passionately kissed her and his hands started roaming her body.

* * *

Ginny sat in the Gryffindor common room fuming. Today was the last night Hermione had detention with Snape but so far her absence hadn't seemed to affect Harry. When Hermione was around the pair were as cosy as ever and after the first night when Harry spent the entire time talking to Ginny about Quidditch he had hardly spoken to the redheaded girl.

Ginny watched as Harry and Ron finished their chess game. As soon as the board was cleared away Lavender arrived and sat on Ron's knee, where they immediately started making out. Harry chuckled at his best friend before he headed up to the boys dormitory's. Ginny thought about following Harry but she was pretty sure that Neville was upstairs as he hadn't been feeling too well earlier in the day.

Trying to decide on a new plan of action regarding Harry, Ginny got up and headed to her own dormitory. Barely a minute after Ginny had left the common room, Harry returned and after a brief word with Ron he left the common room via the portrait hole.

* * *

Ginny wandered into the library to look for a potions book. It had been a week since the end of Hermione's detentions and her and Harry kept wandering off together even more than before. Ron was no use in keeping them in the common room where Ginny could keep an eye on them as her brother was still too busy swapping saliva with Lavender to notice his best friends behaviour.

Picking up her potions book Ginny was just about to head to the front desk to check it out when she heard a laugh she instantly recognised as belonging to Harry. Ginny headed to the end of the bookshelf and peered round the corner in the direction the noise had come from.

Hermione was sitting at a table with her books spread all over the surface while Harry stood beside her. Ginny watched as the couple laughed and joked together, Hermione constantly touching Harry's arm. Ginny watched for a few more minutes before Harry bent down and gave Hermione a hug before he turned and left the library, passing close by where she was hiding. Ginny watched Harry leave the room before she turned her attention back to Hermione who had put her quill down and started heading towards the back of the library.

Ginny stormed over to the table where Hermione was working and in a fit of anger she started to destroy the brunette's work and books. Suddenly realising what she had done, Ginny checked she hadn't been seen before running out of the library, forgetting to check her potions book out.

* * *

Hermione threw her head back against the bookshelf and bit her bottom lip to stop herself crying out in ecstasy as Draco made love to her. Hermione reached out and used Draco's soft hair to pull her boyfriend away from her neck so she could kiss him. Hermione's cry of pleasure as she reached her peak was muffled by Draco's lips on hers. Draco's release followed closely behind Hermione and the pair stayed wrapped in each other's arms for several minutes while they recovered.

Reluctantly pulling apart, Hermione and Draco began to straighten their clothes before they left the dark stacks at the back of the library. Hermione had originally been in the back of the library looking for a spell book when Draco had arrived to distract her.

"I'll go first so no-one sees." Draco said, giving Hermione a kiss.

Hermione deepened the kiss for a few minutes before she pulled away. "Go. I'll see you later."

With a final kiss Draco turned and sauntered out of the library. Hermione made sure her clothes were straight before she picked up the book she needed and returned to her work.

When Hermione exited the shelves and headed towards the table she spotted the librarian, Madam Pince, standing beside the table where Hermione had been working. As Hermione neared the table, Madam Pince turned to glare at Hermione. Hermione's first thought was that the librarian knew what her and Draco had just been doing. Hermione opened her mouth to try and explain but the librarian stopped her with a stern look.

"I expected better from you Miss Granger." Madam Pince said, gesturing to the table.

Hermione looked at the table for the first time and was shocked to see her work torn into pieces, pages ripped from books and ink smeared all over the table.

"This was all neat when I left." Hermione gasped, wondering who had done this. "I didn't make the mess."

"Whether you did it or not, the library books are checked out in your name. They are your responsibility." Madam Pince said sharply. "Pack your thing and leave the library, I'll be telling Professor Dumbledore about this tomorrow."

Hermione was about to protest her innocence again but another frosty glare from the librarian had the brunette packing her bag, wondering who was out to cause trouble for her.

* * *

"I still can't think of anyone who would do this." Pansy said, shaking her head.

The two couples were sitting in the Astronomy Tower, talking about the incident in the library the previous night. Harry and Pansy were sitting next to each other against one of the walls, Harry's arm around his girlfriend's waist while Draco was sitting against the opposite wall, Hermione sitting in between his legs her back pressed right up against Draco's front.

"Neither can I. I have no idea who hates me so much." Hermione said, sighing as Draco's lips brushed softly against the side of her neck.

"Hopefully Dumbledore and McGonagall can figure it out." Harry said to his friend. "At least they believed it wasn't you who destroyed the books."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. When she had been called to see the headmaster earlier in the day Hermione had been worried about getting into serious trouble but Dumbledore had immediately reassured her that he didn't think she was responsible for the destruction in the library.

"You'd have to be an idiot to believe that Hermione would destroy a book." Pansy snorted.

"I still have to pay for them though. Professor McGonagall agreed with Madam Pince in that the books were my responsibility as I had checked them out." Hermione said.

"I've already told you, I'll pay for the books." Draco said from behind Hermione. "You wouldn't have left them for so long if I hadn't distracted you."

Hermione smiled and blushed slightly at the memories of why she had left her work and books unattended for so long. Harry and Pansy shared a look at Hermione's reaction, it didn't take a genius to work out exactly how Draco had managed to distract Hermione from her work.

Pansy decided the conversation needed lightening up as Hermione still looked upset over earlier events. "So my birthday is next month and I'm expecting some expensive presents."

Pansy then began to drop hints about the many thing she wanted for her birthday causing the other three to groan at the raven haired witch. Within minutes the two Gryffindors and two Slytherin's were laughing and talking happily, Hermione's problems temporarily forgotten.

* * *

Ginny was beginning to think she had reacted rashly destroying Hermione's work and books. The event seemed to have brought Harry and Hermione even closer as they were barely apart anymore. Whenever the pair were in the Gryffindor common room they were joined at the hip but they actually spent more time away from Gryffindor Tower than they had in the past.

The only time Ginny saw Harry without Hermione by his side was Quidditch practice. Ginny had tried to use the practises as opportunity to flirt with Harry and show off her Quidditch knowledge but she was disappointed to find that Harry was totally oblivious to her flirting. Ron however had noticed his sister's behaviour during practises and had told Ginny to stop throwing herself at someone who clearly had no interest in her.

Ron's words had struck a chord with Ginny and she began to wonder if her brother had a point. Ginny eventually decided that even if she never got Harry for herself, Hermione had to pay for stealing Harry from under her nose.

* * *

It took Ginny a few weeks to come up with her new plan to get Hermione into trouble. Ginny had decided that she wanted to do more than causing Hermione to lose her homework and suffer a few days detention. Eventually Ginny decided the best person to get Hermione into trouble with would be Snape, he hated Gryffindors so would give the brunette witch a harsher punishment than the other Professor's.

On the day she had decided to implement her revenge, Ginny set her plan into motion. During her morning potions class she stole a vial of polyjuice potion from Professor Slughorn's supply and at lunch time she picked a long curly hair from Hermione's jumper.

Later that night when she knew that Hermione had gone to the library while Harry was hanging out with Ron in the common room, Ginny made her way to the dungeons where she took the potion and transformed into Hermione. Ginny made her way to the potions supply cupboard and using Alohamora she unlocked the cupboard and stepped inside, the cupboard was easier to access now that Slughorn was in charge rather than Snape.

Ginny slipped a few bits and pieces into her pocket and waited in the cupboard until she heard voices nearby. When she heard the voices, Ginny left the cupboard making sure to look sneaky and making sure the two Slytherin fifth years got a good look at her without them realising she had seen them.

Once she was sure she had been seen, Ginny fled the dungeons before her potion wore off. Now all she had to do was wait for the two Slytherins to go and report her odd behaviour to Snape. Ginny was confident the Slytherins would go to their head of house rather than Slughorn, Slughorn was notoriously soft and was unlikely to punish Hermione while Snape was tough on Gryffindors and would relish the opportunity to punish the Gryffindor golden girl.

* * *

Professor Snape was sitting in his office, marking papers when the two fifth years appeared in his office with a tale of seeing Hermione Granger sneaking out of the potions supply cupboard. After listening to the story, Snape dismissed the two boys and went to find Professor Slughorn so they could conduct an inventory of the supplies.

As Slughorn did the inventory to discover what, if anything, was missing Snape mulled over what he had been told. He was sure that Hermione and her friends had stolen supplies back in their second year but he couldn't think of any reason for the brunette witch to do so now.

Once Slughorn gave Snape the list of things missing, Snape dismissed the other Professor and studied the list while he decided how to proceed. The list of stuff missing made no sense to Snape, half of what was taken was fairly useless and none of the stuff even combined together in a potion, it looked to him as though someone had randomly stolen a bunch of stuff without looking at what they were taking.

Snape knew he would have to send for Hermione and deal with what had happened, as the two fifth years that had come to him earlier would have passed the information around his house by now. Heading back to his office, Snape scrawled a note telling Hermione to come to his office. He then enchanted the note to form a small bird and fly to wherever Hermione was, Snape found it was the easiest way of finding someone in the vast school.

* * *

Hermione and Draco were lying side by side in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, spotting constellations in the clear night sky, when the little paper bird fluttered over to Hermione.

Hermione grabbed the bird and opened the note as she sat up. "Snape wants to see me in his office, now." She told Draco after reading the note.

"Come on, let's go." Draco said, standing up and pulling Hermione to her feet.

As the couple headed to Snape's office they wondered what he could want with Hermione. Snape knew all about Draco and Hermione's relationship from the beginning as Draco had confided in him when he first started having feelings for the bossy brunette witch. Snape had encouraged Draco to pursue a relationship with Hermione as he thought the pair of them would be a good match. During the summer Snape had also helped the Malfoy's and the Parkinson's join the Order properly, at Draco's request. He also knew of Harry and Pansy's relationship, but while the Professor had become quite fond of Hermione he still found Harry too like his father to really like him.

Snape was unsurprised when Hermione and Draco both appeared in his office. That was one of the problems he had in believing the fifth years story, he was fairly sure that Hermione would have been with the blond Slytherin all night.

"Hermione, Draco, take a seat." Snape said as the couple arrived in his office. Once they were sat down he proceeded to tell them what had happened that night.

"That's impossible, I've been with Draco all night." Hermione said once Snape had finished his story.

"She has, we've been down at the Quidditch pitch since just after dinner." Draco added.

"This has to be the same person who stole my homework and wrecked my books that afternoon in the library." Hermione exclaimed.

At Snape's confused look Draco explained about the two incidents that had befallen Hermione. Snape nodded thoughtfully, the incident with Hermione's missing homework a few months ago now making sense to him.

"Maybe this is an opportunity to catch whoever is doing this." Snape mused, a cunning plan starting to form in his head.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Whoever has done this expects you to be punished, as will the Slytherins who will undoubtedly know all about tonight's adventure by now." Snape said. "Maybe we can draw the culprit out by making them think they've succeeded this time."

"How do we do that?" Draco asked, confused by Snape's logic regarding the person who was troubling Hermione.

"For a start, I'm suspending all of Hermione's Hogsmeade privileges for the next three months. I am also assigning a month's worth of detentions." Snape said, smirking as he saw the shock on both Hermione and Draco's faces.

"You can't punish Hermione, she's done nothing wrong." Draco said, sounding angry.

"I know, but this way the real culprit will think they've got the upper hand. In their eyes they'll have gotten Hermione into trouble again." Snape said, not responding to Draco's anger.

"How does this help draw them out?" Hermione questioned. She could see the logic in Snape's punishment but failed to see how it could help catch the real culprit.

"Hopefully the person who is doing this will make their move on a day when most of the students are at Hogsmeade and you are at the castle." Snape explained. "Obviously I'll know exactly where you are, so hopefully I can catch someone masquerading as you trying to cause trouble."

"That's a great idea." Draco grinned, loving Snape's cunning plan.

"It is, but what if they don't try anything on a Hogsmeade day?" Hermione questioned, trying not to get too hopeful for a plan that might not work.

"It's a chance we'll have to take, but I think it'll be an opportunity they'll not want to miss." Snape said. "I guess all we can do now is wait and see if they fall into our trap."

* * *

Ginny was having a hard time controlling her excitement as she ate her breakfast. Her plan to get Hermione into trouble a few weeks back had worked perfectly, the brunette had lost all her Hogsmeade privileges and had detention every night for a month.

At first Ginny had taken the opportunity of Hermione's absence to try and spend time with Harry, but despite her best efforts she still couldn't get her brother's best friend interested in her. While Harry would quite happily spend time with her and chat to her about Quidditch he had yet to pick up on her not so subtle flirting.

Ginny had decided that as long as Harry was with Hermione that he would never notice her. Even though Ron's words, about Harry not being interested in her, kept playing in her head Ginny dismissed them. She had convinced herself that Harry would notice her if Hermione wasn't around.

Ginny had then thought of a plan to get Hermione into more trouble, hoping Harry would get sick of his girlfriend's behaviour and dump her. During today's visit to Hogsmeade, Ginny was planning on sneaking back to the castle and destroying a classroom. She was planning on using more polyjuice potion in case she was seen but she had decided to plant something of Hermione's at the scene in case she went unnoticed. Last night Ginny had snuck a charm from the bracelet that Hermione always wore, which she was planning on dropping in the classroom.

Ginny only hoped that people would believe it was Hermione causing the trouble. Luckily so far everyone believed that it had been Hermione stealing from the potions cupboard. Just yesterday she had overheard Snape telling Slughorn that Hermione was nothing but trouble and he had suspected for some time that it was her rather than Harry and Ron that was the cause of the trouble the three often found themselves in.

Finishing breakfast, Ginny watched as Hermione hugged Harry and Ron goodbye and set off back to Gryffindor Tower for the day as everyone else headed for the nearby wizarding village. Ginny walked to Hogsmeade not far behind Harry, Ron and Lavender. Ron and Lavender were all over each other ignoring Harry, normally Ginny would have used it as an opportunity to spend time with Harry but as she planned on sneaking back to school she kept her distance.

Once at the village, Ginny spent about an hour wandering around making sure plenty of people saw her before she disappeared into a back alley and began to creep back to school.

* * *

"I don't think this plan is working. This is the third Hogsmeade visit and still nothing has happened." Hermione sighed.

"I'm sure something will happen soon." Pansy said, trying to reassure her friend.

Hermione, Draco, Pansy and Harry were all in the Slytherin common room, hoping that Snape would bring them news of someone being caught trying to set Hermione up. Harry was sitting on a chair by the fire with Pansy curled up on his lap while Draco and Hermione were lying on the large black leather sofa together.

For the first couple of visits to Hogsmeade, Draco had snuck back to spend the day with Hermione but today her friends had also came back as well so the four of them could spend the day together. They were in the Slytherin common room because the first and second years were all in The Great Hall having a study period while everyone else was at Hogsmeade.

"Maybe we need to come up with a back-up plan." Harry suggested.

"Like what?" Draco scoffed.

"I don't know." Harry admitted sheepishly.

Draco rolled his eyes at Harry's idealism, while Draco actually liked Harry and considered him a good friend he was still amazed by the other wizards eagerness to play the hero without a solid plan of attack.

"I think we should leave it to Snape." Hermione said, resting her head on Draco's shoulder. "If this doesn't work I'm sure him and Dumbledore will think of something."

"They better." Draco muttered, stroking Hermione's hair.

Draco was desperate to know who had been trying to get his girlfriend into trouble and why, he only hoped that Snape's plan worked soon as the suspense was killing him.

* * *

Professor Snape prowled the corridors hoping to catch a glimpse of someone posing as Hermione. His plan had so far failed, it was now the third Hogsmeade visit and there was still no sign of the person who was trying to cause trouble for Hermione. He had been so confident his plan would draw the culprit out but so far he had drawn a blank.

Snape knew that Hermione was unconvinced his plan would work and for the first time he began to wonder if the know-it-all Gryffindor hadn't been right all along. Walking through the deserted school, Snape decided it was time to see if Dumbledore had come up with some solution to the problem if nothing happened today. The day after the stealing incident Snape had confided in Dumbledore and McGonagall about his plan, the headmaster had been right behind it but the head of Gryffindor had been unimpressed with the sly nature of the plan.

Since then Snape had deliberately played up the fact that Hermione was in trouble with him and he was constantly complaining about her to fellow teachers when he was sure there were students around to overhear. He had been hoping that word of what he had been saying would get back to the person trying to cause trouble for Hermione and it would encourage them to act again but so far there had been no more incidents.

Snape had also been wondering about what could possibly be the motive behind the trouble. His initial thought had been Slytherins trying to cause trouble but ironically the only Slytherin he could think of that would have the nerve to do such a thing was Draco. Snape also considered if Hermione's relationship with Draco was the reason for the incidents but apart from himself and Dumbledore the only other people in school who knew about the couple were Harry and Pansy, who were good friends with both Draco and Hermione. Snape was pretty sure that no-one had picked up on the relationship between Draco and Hermione as the pair were very skilled in making it look like they hated each other, there were times he would have sworn the pair detested each other if he didn't know any better.

Snape was so lost in thought that he failed to notice Professor McGonagall coming out of her office and he walked straight into her.

"I'm sorry, Minerva, I didn't see you." Snape said. He was annoyed that he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings.

"That's fine. Is everything okay?" Professor McGonagall inquired, she was unused to seeing Snape so distracted.

"Yes, it's fine." Snape said.

Snape nodded to McGonagall and turned to return down the corridor he had just walked through when a loud crash sounded from the floor above them.

"What on earth was that?" McGonagall said, looking at the ceiling. "If it's Peeves causing trouble again, I'll go mad."

"I don't think it's Peeves." Snape said, walking towards the stairs. He had a feeling his plan had finally worked and he was about to catch whoever was causing trouble for Hermione.

As Snape started up the stairs, McGonagall followed close behind him suddenly realising what was happening. Hopefully they would be finding out who was causing trouble for Hermione.

* * *

Ginny giggled as she waved her wand around, causing papers to fly all over the room. With another swish of her wand, desks overturned and chairs were knocked over. Reaching into her pocket, Ginny retrieved Hermione's charm and placed it on one of the upturned desks.

Ginny looked around the charms room, wondering if she had caused enough destruction. Deciding she hadn't she pointed her wand to the stack of cushions in the corner. With a laugh she ripped open the cushions, causing feathers to fly everywhere.

"What on earth is going on here?" A stern voice called from the doorway, causing Ginny to freeze in panic.

Ginny turned round slowly to find Professor's Snape and McGonagall standing in the doorway, dark looks on their faces. Ginny stood there not breathing, wondering how she was going to talk herself out of this when Professor McGonagall spoke again.

"I asked you a question, Miss Granger. What is going on?"

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, she had totally forgotten that she looked like Hermione. Ginny shrugged her shoulders, trying not to smirk at the fact she had landed Hermione in serious trouble.

"My office now." McGonagall snapped, playing along with the assumption the girl in front of her was Hermione.

"I'll go and get Professor Dumbledore." Snape smirked before he left the room.

Ginny followed McGonagall to her office, thrilled her plan had worked so well. Snape had looked practically giddy to have caught Hermione causing so much trouble, surely after this Harry would want nothing to do with the brunette witch and she could make her move.

* * *

Snape immediately went to Dumbledore and told him what had happened before he sent a message to Hermione in the Slytherin common room. As Snape and Dumbledore approached McGonagall's office, Hermione and her friends came flying round the corner. Snape was unsurprised to see Harry and Pansy were with Hermione and Draco, as the four had formed a tightknit friendship.

"Have you got them? Who is it?" Hermione gasped, slightly out of breath from the run from the dungeons.

"Yes, we've got them." Snape smirked. "But they're obviously using polyjuice potion to masquerade as you."

"Let's go inside and get to the bottom of this, shall we." Dumbledore said, opening the door to McGonagall's office.

"Ah, Professor Dumbledore. Perhaps you can get Miss Granger to talk." McGonagall said when Dumbledore appeared in the doorway.

Ginny whirled round in her seat, spotting Dumbledore and Snape standing in the doorway. They had taken longer to arrive than Ginny had anticipated and she was now worrying about the potion wearing off and revealing her true identity.

"I'm sure I can, but that is not Miss Granger." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the Ginny sitting in the chair in front of McGonagall's desk.

"Of course I am." Ginny said in a high pitched panicky voice. Somehow her plan had been rumbled and she wasn't sure how.

"No, you're not." Hermione said, stepping around Snape and entering the office.

Ginny paled slightly at the sight of the real Hermione standing in front of her, glaring at her in anger. Ginny's eyes widened in surprise and then confusion as Harry entered the office followed by the two Slytherins.

"Would you like to tell us who you really are?" Snape asked Ginny who was now looking incredibly nervous.

Ginny shook her head, knowing she was now in big trouble with no way to get out of it. "How do you know she's not the imposter?" She asked, hoping to cause some confusion.

"Because the real Hermione's been with us for hours." Harry said, glaring at Ginny.

"How long will it be before the potion wears off?" McGonagall asked. Ginny shrugged, not wanting to admit it would be wearing off any minute.

"It looks like we'll have to wait then." Snape said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

Everyone else also settled down to wait. McGonagall and Dumbledore took seats behind McGonagall's desk. Draco leant against the wall and Hermione stood in front of him nestled in his arms while Pansy perched on the corner of McGonagall's desk. Ginny's mouth dropped open in shock when Harry stood next to Pansy and took her hand in his.

"You're with Parkinson. I thought you were dating Hermione." Ginny cried, no longer concerned with revealing her identity.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked confused.

"Oh god." Hermione cried from behind Ginny. "That's why you've done this. Because you thought I was with Harry."

"All this is because of Potter." Draco spat disgusted. "No offence, mate." He added to Harry, not wanting his friend to think he meant it in a bad way against him. Harry nodded and smiled at the blond understanding what he meant.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, wondering who he knew that could be so cruel.

"It doesn't matter, you never notice me." Ginny said, putting her head in her hands. As she sat there, the potion started to wear off and instead of a head of curly brown hair a long mane of sleek red hair took its place.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, shocked that the girl he thought of as a little sister would do such a thing.

"Do you wish to explain yourself Miss Weasley." Dumbledore said, quietening the room that had broken out in shocked whispering. "It'll be better for you in the long run."

Ginny nodded and looked up at Hermione. "I'm sorry, I never would have done it if I'd known you and Harry were just friends."

"You did know that, I've lost track of the amount of times we've told people we're just friends." Hermione replied angrily. Draco came up behind Hermione and wrapped her in his arms, whispering something in her ear that calmed her down.

"I know, but I didn't believe it. You and Harry are always sneaking off together. Now I see why." Ginny said with a sneer as she looked at the two Slytherins.

"That doesn't explain why you did these things. What did you hope to achieve?" McGonagall asked, confused by the redhead's behaviour.

"At first I just wanted to get Hermione into trouble to pay her back for stealing Harry from me." Pansy snorted at Ginny's statement but the redhead ignored her and carried on talking. "Then I hoped if I got Hermione into so much trouble Harry would get sick of her behaviour and dump her."

"That's insane." Harry said. "As if I'd believe it was Hermione doing these things."

"How does it help you if Harry wasn't with me anymore?" Hermione asked. She had tried on numerous occasions to convince Ginny that Harry wasn't interested in her romantically but the stubborn redhead wouldn't listen to her.

"Because then I could show him that I'm much more compatible with him than you." Ginny explained before she turned to Harry and Pansy. "And I'm definitely better than the pug."

"No you're not." Harry said, looking at Ginny in disgust. "Pansy and Hermione are both better than you. You may be pretty but you're rotten underneath. What sort of person attacks their friends the way you did to Hermione just because you think they're dating the boy you like."

"I only wanted you to notice me." Ginny said, she was on the verge of tears and Harry's disgust made everything worse.

"I did notice you, Ginny." Harry sighed. "As a friend, or at least I thought that's what you were."

"Come on Miss Weasley." Dumbledore said to the young girl who was now crying softly. "We need to contact your parents."

A crying Ginny followed Dumbledore out of McGonagall's office, leaving a room full of surprised people behind. None of them had even considered that Ginny would be involved in something so cruel.

* * *

As punishment for what she had done Ginny was suspended for the rest of the school year, which by that point was just over two months. She also had to pay for all the damage she had caused, something insisted upon by Mr and Mrs Weasley who were appalled by their daughter's actions.

In the aftermath of what had happened a few more people found out about the Malfoy's and Parkinson's switch of allegiance in the coming war. Professor McGonagall and the Weasley's obviously found out when Ginny was apprehended.

Ron was more hurt than angry when he discovered his two friends relationships. While he swore never to like Draco or Pansy he promised to make an effort with them for Harry and Hermione. Both Ginny and Ron wore sworn to secrecy about the two inter house relationships, Ginny was actually threatened by her parents to keep quiet while Ron understood the need for secrecy.

The official story was part of the truth. While it became common knowledge that Ginny was trying to steal Harry from Hermione despite them not being a couple, no-one found out about who the pair were really involved with until much later.

Ginny had apologised to Hermione many times but while the brunette witch had forgiven her she never forgot and their friendship was ruined. Ginny had also tried apologising to Harry but he was less forgiving than Hermione and told Ginny he wanted nothing to do with her.

The final battle was fought the summer after Harry's sixth year and with the valuable information from Lucius Malfoy the light side were triumphant. When school resumed the following September both Hermione and Draco and Harry and Pansy went public with their relationships as there was no more need to hide anymore.

The following year was torture for Ginny as not only did people now know what she had done, they all now knew she had targeted the wrong person. Ginny thought back to the first night she had decided to take action against Hermione, everything would have been so different if she had saw who Harry had been with that night. Ginny was left in no doubt that if she had known Harry was with Pansy she could have destroyed the Slytherin witch, it would have been so much easier than it had been to take down Hermione. Ginny also deluded herself into thinking that if she had known it was Pansy she was up against, she would have won Harry's affections easily. Unfortunately Harry now hated her too much after what she had done to Hermione, for Ginny to try and win him round now. Ginny failed to realise that she had always been in competition with Pansy and in Harry's eyes there was no competition, the raven haired Slytherin won every time.

Every time people saw Harry with Pansy they wondered how Ginny could have been so stupid to think he had been romantically involved with Hermione. While Harry and Hermione clearly loved each other, it was also clearly a platonic love. Watching Harry with Pansy they saw real love, passionate love. It was the same sort of passionate, all-consuming love that was evident when people watched Hermione and Draco together. They were two couples that clearly belonged with each other, despite Ginny's meddling.

**The End.**


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